An Overview of the Social Policy of Deinstitutionalization

This chapter examines the most recent research on deinstitutionalization as a policy for services to mentally retarded persons and relates it to the policy stages. The chapter examines the policy of deinstitutionalization using Brewer's six stages of policy development: initiation, estimation, selection, implementation, evaluation, and termination. An analysis of the intended and unintended outcomes of the current policy of deinstitutionalization provides useful clues to the future direction of services for mentally retarded persons. There are a number of issues that may also play a key role in future policy for mental retardation services, such as the development of goals and services to meet the special needs of the elderly and severely/profoundly mentally retarded. These individuals have been somewhat overlooked by the current policy. Their placement out of institutions represents a risk, and the residential alternatives selected for them are often no more appropriate than the institutions.